by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
For those who track such things, I have avoided even mentioning our Dear Leader, Donald John Trump, for nearly three weeks now. For a good long while it seemed, at least to myself, that this blog had degenerated into little more than a place to vent my angry spleen about all things Trump, but all of that continuous rage was wearing me down. So over the course of the past few weeks I made a conscious decision to just give Herr Trump, and myself, a rest. A Trump detox, if you will, or a cleanse.
The last time I mentioned Donald Trump in The Ramble was on December 18th, 2019, in a piece called "Impeachment Day," so titled for obvious reasons. That was twenty days ago. The last time I used his name in the title of a blog piece was three days before that when I penned one entitled "Trump Says FBI Is Scum." Over the past couple of years there have been numerous weeks when the name "Trump" appeared in headlines of this blog three, four, and even five days in a row, and disengaging from all of that vitriol was not an easy task - but disengage I did.
A couple of years ago I stated a resolve at the beginning of January to only write about Trump on one specific day a week, either Tuesday or Thursday - I honestly can't remember which. But that noble resolution only lasted a couple of weeks because I just could not resist the siren's call of his unrelenting meanness and stupidity. Trump made me so damned mad - and attacking him was always just too damned easy!
Now I would like to try backing off of Trump again, but I don't want to be limited to certain days or amounts of print - just a vow to ignore him except in the most egregious of cases. Yes, I think there is some value in being a tiny vibration in the massive hum of discontent sweeping across our land and around the globe, but I am not certain that I want to sacrifice my health in being a constant part of that hum. There are plenty of other things that could use attention - grandmothers being tased on their birthdays by over-zealous cops, for instance, or children in cages dying from the flu. Lots of things that need to be talked about seem to be getting washed aside in the daily tsunami of Trump trash that is leaching itself onto our national character.
If I had been hitting on all of my anti-Trump cylinders over the past few weeks, I would have surely lauded the decisions by two fine conservative publications, "Christianity Today" and "The National Review" to call for Trump's impeachment and removal from office. Their thoughtful editorials inflamed GOP politicians and Trump's mindless supporters, but they did serve tot remind America's more reasonable citizens that there are good and wise people on both sides of the political aisle - but just not those who have allowed themselves to be swept up into the Trump maelstrom of greed and treachery.
If I had been more focused on the outrages of Trump these past few weeks I would have had plenty to say about his two-week family vacation in Florida over the holidays, a vacation in which secret service agents, military personnel, and civilian flunkies in the White House and administration had to also be housed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort - on the public dime. The Trump's went to the seashore for Christmas, and America paid out the ass - and paid directly TO the Trump family!
I would have also gotten emotionally overwrought in writing about the fact that Trump planned and ordered a major international assassination while on his golfing holiday, and that while he didn't inform Congress of his decision to act in a manner that could still yet precipitate a war with Iran and perhaps other players in the region as well, the word did seem to leak out to some of the Mar-a-Lago members who were enjoying their holidays in the shadow of Trump. There was even some speculation in the news that some of these people may have made quick profits on the stock market with what was essentially insider information.
I probably would not have commented on the celebrity-news type of storm that Melania Trump seemed to be instigating when she threatened to sue anyone who referred to her as an "ex-hooker." In fact, I did not even hear those lurid assertions until Mrs. Trump herself began snarling about them. I will, however, admit that I am shocked that I lived long enough to witness the day when a First Lady of the United States would have to threaten to sue over something like that. Of course, Melania is also the very first First Lady to have nude images of herself splashed across the internet.
(Michelle Obama, America's most admired woman - year after year after year - was never called a hooker, although several Republican politicians did pass around cartoons and memes that suggested she was a baboon or some other primate. Michelle never threatened to sue - perhaps because the materials we so outlandish - or perhaps because she was too much of a lady to get down and roll around in the mud with her racist detractors.)
But I carefully avoided all of those Trump tidbits - and even ignored a few easy take-downs on Beavis and Butthead and Ivanka and Jared. Jumping into all of that slime was not good for my blood pressure and it would not really have added anything of value to the national discourse - and only a slight vibration to the universal hum of discontent.
I won't ignore the Trump crime family completely, but from this day forward I am going to do a better job of seeking out other things to write about. Be it resolved!
Citizen Journalist
For those who track such things, I have avoided even mentioning our Dear Leader, Donald John Trump, for nearly three weeks now. For a good long while it seemed, at least to myself, that this blog had degenerated into little more than a place to vent my angry spleen about all things Trump, but all of that continuous rage was wearing me down. So over the course of the past few weeks I made a conscious decision to just give Herr Trump, and myself, a rest. A Trump detox, if you will, or a cleanse.
The last time I mentioned Donald Trump in The Ramble was on December 18th, 2019, in a piece called "Impeachment Day," so titled for obvious reasons. That was twenty days ago. The last time I used his name in the title of a blog piece was three days before that when I penned one entitled "Trump Says FBI Is Scum." Over the past couple of years there have been numerous weeks when the name "Trump" appeared in headlines of this blog three, four, and even five days in a row, and disengaging from all of that vitriol was not an easy task - but disengage I did.
A couple of years ago I stated a resolve at the beginning of January to only write about Trump on one specific day a week, either Tuesday or Thursday - I honestly can't remember which. But that noble resolution only lasted a couple of weeks because I just could not resist the siren's call of his unrelenting meanness and stupidity. Trump made me so damned mad - and attacking him was always just too damned easy!
Now I would like to try backing off of Trump again, but I don't want to be limited to certain days or amounts of print - just a vow to ignore him except in the most egregious of cases. Yes, I think there is some value in being a tiny vibration in the massive hum of discontent sweeping across our land and around the globe, but I am not certain that I want to sacrifice my health in being a constant part of that hum. There are plenty of other things that could use attention - grandmothers being tased on their birthdays by over-zealous cops, for instance, or children in cages dying from the flu. Lots of things that need to be talked about seem to be getting washed aside in the daily tsunami of Trump trash that is leaching itself onto our national character.
If I had been hitting on all of my anti-Trump cylinders over the past few weeks, I would have surely lauded the decisions by two fine conservative publications, "Christianity Today" and "The National Review" to call for Trump's impeachment and removal from office. Their thoughtful editorials inflamed GOP politicians and Trump's mindless supporters, but they did serve tot remind America's more reasonable citizens that there are good and wise people on both sides of the political aisle - but just not those who have allowed themselves to be swept up into the Trump maelstrom of greed and treachery.
If I had been more focused on the outrages of Trump these past few weeks I would have had plenty to say about his two-week family vacation in Florida over the holidays, a vacation in which secret service agents, military personnel, and civilian flunkies in the White House and administration had to also be housed at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort - on the public dime. The Trump's went to the seashore for Christmas, and America paid out the ass - and paid directly TO the Trump family!
I would have also gotten emotionally overwrought in writing about the fact that Trump planned and ordered a major international assassination while on his golfing holiday, and that while he didn't inform Congress of his decision to act in a manner that could still yet precipitate a war with Iran and perhaps other players in the region as well, the word did seem to leak out to some of the Mar-a-Lago members who were enjoying their holidays in the shadow of Trump. There was even some speculation in the news that some of these people may have made quick profits on the stock market with what was essentially insider information.
I probably would not have commented on the celebrity-news type of storm that Melania Trump seemed to be instigating when she threatened to sue anyone who referred to her as an "ex-hooker." In fact, I did not even hear those lurid assertions until Mrs. Trump herself began snarling about them. I will, however, admit that I am shocked that I lived long enough to witness the day when a First Lady of the United States would have to threaten to sue over something like that. Of course, Melania is also the very first First Lady to have nude images of herself splashed across the internet.
(Michelle Obama, America's most admired woman - year after year after year - was never called a hooker, although several Republican politicians did pass around cartoons and memes that suggested she was a baboon or some other primate. Michelle never threatened to sue - perhaps because the materials we so outlandish - or perhaps because she was too much of a lady to get down and roll around in the mud with her racist detractors.)
But I carefully avoided all of those Trump tidbits - and even ignored a few easy take-downs on Beavis and Butthead and Ivanka and Jared. Jumping into all of that slime was not good for my blood pressure and it would not really have added anything of value to the national discourse - and only a slight vibration to the universal hum of discontent.
I won't ignore the Trump crime family completely, but from this day forward I am going to do a better job of seeking out other things to write about. Be it resolved!
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